Suhrud Panchawagh

and 2 more

Background: Current medical practice in most parts of the world is based on evidence-based medicine. Medical students and residents have the potential to contribute to research which can have profound impact in healthcare. To be able to perform quality research, knowledge on interpreting and even performing statistical tests is crucial. This paper focusses on introducing a free, simple, and intuitive software – JASP – which packs a lot of features and can easily be used by novice to advanced researchers and teachers alike. Methods: JASP is an open-source software with a simple graphical user interface and uses the R programming language to run its analyses. It consists of various modules. Advanced analysis including meta-analysis, network analysis, factor analysis, and structural equation modelling are supported. Results: Users can perform descriptive analyses, t-tests, analysis of variance, chi-squared tests, linear and logistic regression, mixed effects regression, time-series analyses and so forth. A drag-and-drop interface allows visualization of the analysis. Output is in the form of tables and graphs and can be directly copied and pasted in a word document. Example analyses are provided to help users understand how to perform statistical analyses using JASP. The software’s user-friendly interface and variety of statistical tests make it an accessible tool for medical students and researchers of all levels. Conclusion: Due to its simple and intuitive architecture and being free-to-use, JASP is the ideal statistical software for medical students and researchers who are looking to learn to perform and correctly interpret results of statistical analyses.